Archived decisions

Set of possible questions for Review Panel and Select Committee to ask invited witnesses

Communication/Engagement

    - What opportunities might exist for partner organisations to cross `sell/promote' services of other providers, particularly to those who are `hard to reach'?

    - Is it possible, without `customer insight' to connect with people for whom there are barriers to accessing services, or people who are reluctant to access services (see, eg. `Getting Personal' recommendations to address)?

    - Is greater opportunity provided by partnership working to `sell/promote' the use of services to Hard to Reach people?

Unable to access services/barriers to

    - Are you aware of people who face barriers when they want to access services provided by HCC or other agencies?

    - What do you think that HCC or other service providers could do to overcome barriers to accessing services?

    - What approaches are you aware of for discovering `hard to reach' people, particularly in rural areas?

    - What kinds of barriers to access are recognised by HCC and partners? And what approaches are used to overcome them? (see eg. Getting Personal)

Reluctant/unwilling to access services

    - What do you think that we should be doing to encourage people who are currently reluctant, to consider accessing services that may help them?

Partnership issues

    - What approaches can / does HCC and partners take to reach `hard to reach' people?

    - What advantages do you see to effective partnership working?

    - What do you see as the strengths of partnership working, and what are its weaknesses?

    - What examples can you give of successful partnership working, or of lessons learnt where partnership working was less successful than hoped for?

    - Is partnership working likely to be successful in improving access to services across partner organisations if it is no one person's responsibility to coordinate and drive solutions?

    - Do you think that HCC is best placed as an organisation to locate the `hidden' people who are hard to reach, for example, older frail people in rural areas or people in areas of deprivation? If not which organisations might be?

    - What do you think are the best things that a:

      o county council,

      o district council,

      o fire or police services, or

      o 3rd sector service providers

    ...can bring to partnership working?

Assessment and performance

    - Given that the language of the new local performance framework talks about:

      o Alignment around shared goals

      o Alignment of resources

      o Effective innovation, and

      o Engagement of local people

    In what ways do believe that HCC and its partners can fulfil these expectations for the benefit of `hard to reach' residents of Hampshire?

    - If a chain is as strong as its weakest link, what are the best ways to ensure that individual partners each play their part in ensuring that the `hard to reach' are given every opportunity to access services from which they might benefit?

    - What dis-incentives might exist for service providers to ensure that `hard to reach' people are encouraged to use their services?

    - What measures or measurable outcomes might be appropriate to evidence success in reaching `hard to reach' people?

Information and data issues

    - What value do you see in the development of an observatory and what products would you want to see from it?

    - What value would you see in the consolidation of results of all engagement work and initiatives to reach `hard to reach' across the whole county?

    - What value would you see in the management of the above, including being able to access information about engagement etc. being made available to the Hampshire Senate or individual service provider organisations?

Customer/ratepayer perspective

    - If `hard to reach' represents the gap between people who might benefit from using services, and those who provide them, then in what ways do you think that HCC or/and its partners in service provision, can be hard to reach?

    - How many residents are sure about which service might be the most appropriate to meet their needs?

    - Is there a full list of all available services (with access criteria), whether provided by a Government Office, County, District, or 3rd sector providers?

    - Under what circumstances might some people view HN, other council or NHS publications as `junk mail'? (junk mail has been defined in some places "as items of unsolicited mail such as unsolicited special offers brochures, catalogues and questionnaires" )

Key considerations

Aims

    - To identify instances of good practice

    - To identify barriers to access and scope to address them where possible

    - To identify additional opportunities for possible partnership working to improve effectiveness in `selling' access to services, or improving equitable access for all residents

    - To identify opportunities to make practical recommendations, such as, to provide an easily accessible central resource about customer / local area information, or, say, to provide project coordination resources to manage partnership initiatives or pilots to deliver shared outcomes.

Relevant management and audit regimes

A close relationship exists between the targets and priorities that organisations are expected to achieve or deliver on, and the assessment regimes that monitor the success of organisations that are responsible for delivery. Ensuring that people have equitable access to services is a key aspiration for the County Council and its partner service providers. Auditors, inspectors and Hampshire residents all monitor and evaluate success, at least in part, on the basis of how well the minority who experience or perceive barriers to access are served.

Management: core business

· National indicators set by DCLG through the Government Office of the South East (GOSE) - partnership working:

    · 196 National Indicators for Local Authorities and Local Authority Partnerships:

        · Annex 1: Stronger and Safer Communities

        · Annex 2: Children and Young People

        · Annex 3: Adult Health & Wellbeing and Tackling Exclusions &

          Promoting Equality

        · Annex 4: Local Economy and Environmental Sustainability

    · Hampshire LAA 2008-2011 Priorities and targets: 33 of the 196 selected and negotiated targets with GOSE to form the priorities of the Hampshire LAA 2008 - 2011, plus 16 mandatory DfES indicators

    · Remaining 147 indicators subject to inspection, but with no associated targets

· Corporate Improvement Plan (Hampshire County Council):

    (includes and emphasis on reducing inequalities - very close links with access to services)

Audit and inspection

· Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) - phasing out 31/3/09

· Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA), as per `Prospects for Hampshire' trial - phasing in 1/4/09